Happy New Year!

Good Eats for Good Luck!

Good Luck Foods for the New Year

The New Year is a time for fresh starts, new beginnings and noble resolutions; people vow to have a better year than the previous one and wish for prosperity and luck. It was traditionally thought that such luck could be achieved with the consumption of certain foods, and so on New Year’s Day around the globe, a whole gamut of auspicious foods are eaten. If you’re looking to increase your good fortune come January 1, take a look at lucky foods here in the States and around the world.
American Traditions

Legumes

Legumes are eaten for a financially successful year. They not only resemble coins, but they swell up when cooked, just as you would want your fortune to swell. A traditional Southern dish is called Hoppin’ John, a combination of black-eyed peas and rice (also lucky as it symbolizes abundance), but lentils are also a tasty alternative.

Greens

Green: the color of money. Though collards are the green of choice in the southern states, kale, chard and turnip greens are a tasty way to ensure an economically prosperous New year. You could even do like the Dutch- and German-Americans do by eating cabbage or sauerkraut. Remember, the more you eat, the greater your fortune will be!

Cornbread

The old Southern expression goes “peas for pennies, greens for dollars, and cornbread for gold”. The symbolic origins of this treat have little ambiguity: eat the golden-colored bread and your wealth will naturally increase. As an added treat, there’s no better way to sop up the juices left behind from your black-eyed peas and collard greens.

Pork

Pigs are considered good luck because they root forward, symbolizing progress (with this logic, lobster is to be avoided since it moves backwards). In the Italian tradition, the fatty meat is also linked to a fat wallet. It is therefore natural that pork —and especially ham in the United States—would be a delicious staple of the New Year’s table.